Hannah Wahl, 11, is the steward of her Little Free Library on Malcolm Drive in Lakewood. The library works on the "take a book, return a book" philosophy, and it's the first of about six in the East Dallas area.

Jeanette Prasifka is the steward of two new Little Free Libraries in Casa View Haven.

Kimberly Vowell (right) and daughter Reagan, 3, look over the books in their Little Free Library in Little Forest Hills.

Hannah Wahl said people thought her library was a dollhouse. But the whimsical blue-and-white house perched on the corner of her yard off Malcolm Drive is a Little Free Library.

“I tried to make it like my house and the things that I like,” said Hannah, 11.

Hannah’s library, which is now one of about a half-dozen in East Dallas, is part of the Little Free Libraries movement that started in Wisconsin in 2010.

“We thought we’d call it Habitat for the Humanities, then we thought House of Stories, but ‘little free library’ is what people were calling it,” said Rick Brooks, a Madison, Wis., resident who co-founded Little Free Libraries with partner Todd Bol. “How fast it’s caught on — that’s been kind of surprising; it’s very gratifying.”

Last year, Brooks said, they had about 6,000 libraries registered through the organization, which is now a nonprofit. This year, he said, that number has already hit 12,000 libraries in 54 countries around the world. And they find new libraries all the time that haven’t registered with the site yet, he said.

Hannah’s Little Free Library was a birthday gift from her grandparents about a year ago.

“I was in Minneapolis for the summer, and we were walking around and my grandparents showed me [the libraries there],” she said. “They helped me get one.”

The libraries work on a simple premise: Take a book, return a book. No library card needed, and no due dates.

While they promote literacy and allow their various stewards to get creative with the design, the libraries are also intended to foster community.

No two libraries are the same.

“We’ve been cultivating that,” said Brooks, “It’s kind of like a new American folk craft. People want to make them.”

When Kimberly Vowell, a Little Forest Hills resident, heard about Hannah’s library, she and a friend set to work on two libraries in their neighborhood.

“We’re both moms with little kids, and it was a project we put on together,” said Vowell, whose library is on San Leandro Drive. “We have so many people who will stop and knock on our door to talk to us about it.”

Vowell said her 3-year-old daughter enjoys checking the library for new books.

“She really likes seeing what the new books are and seeing it first before it goes out to the public,” she said.

Vowell’s library has also been in place about a year.

“I’ve met more people with that library in my yard than I have in the three years that we’ve been there,” Vowell said.

Just up the road from Vowell’s library are two new libraries in Casa View Haven.

Jeanette Prasifka, a longtime resident, heard about the Little Forest Hills libraries and got to work on her own.

“I thought ‘I’ve got to have one of these,’” said Prasifka, who works as a medical librarian. “It was a really great neighborhood project.”

The books for Casa View Haven’s Little Free Libraries came from the neighbors, and the boxes, built by Prasifka’s husband, Bob Curry, and a neighbor, have red doors to mimic her home.

“I knew for sure I wanted to have a red door,” she said.

The libraries were unveiled during National Night Out at an event attended by Dallas City Council member Sheffie Kadane.

It’s not just residents who have the libraries. In Casa Linda Estates, The Children’s Center daycare is putting the finishing touches on its first library.

“We’re going to build it purposefully down low so it’s at a height for young children,” said Christy Tornelli, director of The Children’s Center. “For our young children in the digital age with so many going to e-readers and audio books, it’s so good to put paper books in the hands of our children.”

The Children’s Center library will also be available for the neighborhood’s kids to use.

As more libraries pop up both in Dallas and across the country, Brooks said they hope the libraries continue to bring people together.

“It’s amazing what kind of cool things are happening,” he said. “The mission is to promote a sense of community, reading for children, reading for adults and literacy, [but] community trumps everything.”